Hi, my father had thoracic aortic aneurysm surgery on March 14th, 2000...we were told the surgery went well, however, my father is now in a coma. We were told that he has had a major stroke of the brain stem and several small strokes somewhere in the upper part of his brain...and that it could have happened during surgery or after, they don't know. We have not gotten the rest of the results from the cat scan in regards to the extent of damage, etc. It's now been a week since his surgery and strokes..and the only thing he's done is open his eyes, and his hand responded to painful stimulus. I'm at a loss as to what is going on...what kind of brain damage could he have? Will he ever do more than open his eyes? In regards to the future and rehabilitation, does it matter where on the brain stem the stroke occurred, could he go on to live a semi-normal life even with a major stroke affecting his brain stem?